Blair , West Virginia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- We 're at the peak of Blair Mountain in the middle of southern West Virginia . It 's about 85 degrees , the coolest it has been all week , and there 's a slight breeze that carries voices before we can see the singers .

`` This land is your land . This land is my land . ''

More than 600 dusty , sweaty people are singing as they hike through the hardwoods up the mountain . Their protest signs -- `` Save Blair Mountain '' and `` Abolish Mountaintop Removal '' -- poke through the leaves .

The song is a Woody Guthrie tune , the one that became a folk anthem of sorts in the 1960s , and it seems very appropriate for this moment .

`` As I went walking that ribbon of highway , I saw above me that endless skyway , '' the marchers continue .

See a preview of `` Battle for Blair Mountain : Working in America ''

About 150 people in this group have been walking the twisting mountain highways through West Virginia 's coal fields for six days . The 50-mile march is re-creating the 1921 March on Blair that led to a bloody battle between thousands of coal miners and coal company supporters . The fight eventually brought unions , along with respectable wages , to the coal mines of West Virginia .

But this time , the march is n't about unions . It 's about saving a mountain . It has been organized to oppose `` MTR , '' or mountaintop removal , a highly effective type of mining that involves blasting away slopes to get at the profitable coal seams underneath .

Coal companies own most of the land rights on Blair Mountain now , and they have fought national historic landmark status for the site , which would protect it from being destroyed .

`` If you stand for preserving our cultural heritage instead of destroying it , you stand for Blair Mountain , '' Chuck Keeney said to his followers before he led marchers out of Marmet , West Virginia , last week .

Keeney is a history professor at the local community college , and the great grandson of Frank Keeney , one of the organizers of the original March on Blair .

Chuck believes in replacing mountaintop removal with more traditional underground mining , which he says will employ more people .

`` If you stand for more jobs instead of fewer jobs , you stand for Blair Mountain , '' he says .

But this is coal country , where families and fortunes depend on coal jobs , and most people who live here believe the opposite of what Keeney says .

`` Why do n't they get a job , instead of taking ours , '' one young coal miner watching from his porch asks .

Ten miles from their destination , group organizers , and even miners opposed to the march , tell us that the protesters have now entered `` the belly of the beast . ''

`` Do n't Support Coal ? ... Sit in the Dark !! '' reads one of many homemade signs hung on fences and porches along the route .

Coal is used to generate about half of the electricity consumed in the United States , and West Virginia is the second largest producer of that coal . Wyoming is first .

`` I do n't want to ruin the entire West Virginia economy , which is based on the coal industry . That is not my goal , '' a young activist said during the march . `` I just do n't want to see coal mining that destroys rivers , drives away the biodiversity of such a beautiful place and also drives away other jobs that could be in place of coal mining . ''

She is surprised when told that her environmental stance against coal is interpreted by local miners as attempt to take away their jobs .

Bob Shultz is a union miner watching the march from his front porch . He lost his job when the coal company near his home was denied a mountaintop removal mining permit by the Environmental Protection Agency .

`` Mountaintop removal is what built this house , sends that little girl to school , provides insurance for my wife , bought two cars and that motorcycle I showed you in the garage . I 'm not real impressed , '' he says as the marchers pass .

Joe Stanley is one of a handful of miners who have joined the protest . The retired miner believes more miners would be involved in this march if they were n't afraid .

`` This is a tough situation here . This is the only game in town , '' he tells us . `` That is why these people are yelling at us today , because they are brainwashed to think ` Oh , I ca n't have a job unless it 's a mountaintop removal job . ' ''

`` Welcome to Coal Country '' says a sign greeting the marchers as they cross the Logan County line . Three generations of protesters gather at the entrance to a public lake where the marchers plan to camp that night .

What toddlers , parents and grandparents scream and shout at the protesters can only be described as hateful .

They seem almost oblivious to our cameraman . One mother utters in earshot , `` I wonder if they hate us as much as we hate them ? ''

A toddler at her feet screams , `` Go home , go home , '' as the long line of marchers file by silently .

We find Diann Kish , the wife of a retired miner , at the counter-protest . She has defended coal for more than a decade and feels strongly that coal has provided for her family and her community .

We have met with Kish before and visited a mountaintop removal site with her . She told us she does n't cry when she sees a mountain being dismantled because she sees `` a job in the making . ''

`` It 's been wonderful to talk to the opposition with no violence , '' Kish said along the marchers ' route . `` Peace -- it 's all we want . From what I 'm told , they 're not allowed to say anything back . We just told them to go home or leave our state alone . That 's what we want and that 's from the heart . ''

The marchers arrive at their destination and host a large rally before climbing Blair Mountain . One of the speakers is Robert Kennedy Jr. , an environmental activist and son of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy .

Standing nearby , listening to Kennedy , is Billy Smutko . He remembers when Robert Kennedy 's father came through Logan in 1960 campaigning for John F. Kennedy during the presidential election . Smutko is the son of a miner . His grandfather died in a Logan County mine . He lives on the same land where he grew up , just behind where Diann Kish lives now .

But his view of mountaintop removal is completely different from hers . He is touched when he hears Kennedy 's speech , and tells us that it shows people beyond Logan County care about an issue so important to him .

`` Having all these folks come in here gives me hope we can put an end to this type of mining and save our homelands , '' he said .

The new `` March on Blair Mountain '' ends in song and celebration at the top of the mountain . Organizers erect a homemade monument to commemorate the original battle for Blair and congratulate the crowd for their long journey .

In a final act of protest , about 100 marchers break off from the larger group as part of a planned act of civil disobedience . They climb over a gate that blocks a dirt road running along the ridge line . They attempt to walk out to the edge of a mountaintop removal site that has already encroached on the historic battlefield . State police officers pursue the protesters but only arrest one person for trespassing and littering on coal company property .

March organizer Chuck Keeney sums up the march as a success for raising awareness , but wants to do more to make sure there is no mountaintop mining of Blair .

`` If you ca n't save this mountain , '' he said , `` you ca n't save any mountain . ''

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Protesters marched to oppose mountain removal mining on West Virginia 's Blair Mountain

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Supporters say mountaintop removal creates jobs and energy

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`` The Battle for Blair Mountain '' airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT Aug. 14